Start em or sit em? Fantasy football start or sit decisions can be excruciating. While it feels great to make the right call and cruise to fantasy glory, it hurts just as much when you have someone erupt while on your bench. You can use our Who Should I Start? tool to gauge advice from fantasy football experts as you make your lineup decisions. And you can also sync your fantasy football league for free using our My Playbook tool for custom advice, rankings and analysis.
Let’s take a look at a few polarizing players and what fantasy football expert Derek Brown advises. And you can find all of DBro’s fantasy football outlook in this week’s fantasy football primer.
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Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em Lineup Advice
Well, Travis Hunter is a full-time wide receiver. We debated this all offseason, but now we have seen it. In Week 1, he had a 75.8% route share with a 25.8% target share, a 28% first-read share, and a 37.5% designed target rate. The results weren’t what we wanted, with only 33 receiving yards and 1.32 yards per route run, but the usage was quite encouraging. His per-route metrics also paint a less-than-rosy picture as he had a -0.040 separation score and didn’t record a route win in Week 1. Hunter was a player that I talked about all offseason who needed to continue to improve his route running if he was going to separate at a high level against NFL competition. His 76% slot usage in Week 1 and heavy slot and designed target usage moving forward should allow him to “grow on the job” this season while being productive for fantasy purposes. He should have a more productive Week 2 against a secondary that in Week 1 allowed the sixth-most fantasy points and the fifth-most receiving yards to the slot. In Week 1, Dax Hill allowed five of his six targets defended to be secured with an 84.0 passer rating. The biggest concern for Hunter this week is the team stating that he’ll play more defense this week which could impact his ceiling and floor.
Rome Odunze was Chicago’s clear WR1 in Week 1 with a WR19 finish in fantasy. He had a 22.9% target share (led the team), 24% air-yard share, 37 receiving yards (0.93 yards per route run), an endzone target, and a 27.8% first-read share. He posted strong scores with a 0.162 separation score and an 18.9% route win rate. If Caleb Williams can deliver catchable targets in Week 2, Odunze could have a strong day. Detroit allowed the sixth-most PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers in Week 1.
Last week wasn’t the start to the season that anyone rostering Jameson Williams wanted to see. He had only a 12.8% target share, 15.6% air-yard share (4.8 aDOT), 23 receiving yards (0.55 yards per route run), and a 9.5% first-read share. He wasn’t getting open with only a 2.4% route win rate against Green Bay. Hopefully, this week leads to better results, but that also depends on who is starting on the perimeter for Chicago this week. Jyalon Johnson might be back this week. I’ll update Jameson Williams‘ outlook once we get a better read on who will be available this week for the Bears defense.
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If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant, which allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.